Whipped Cottage Cheese

I did not grow up eating cottage cheese. I did not see it in person for the first time until I was in high school, when a classmate peeled open a small container to eat with her fruit in the cafeteria. I was taken aback by the curds: Never before had I seen such tiny little globs floating in milky whey. Delicious as it might have been, I found cottage cheese off-putting. It conjured up images of Betty Draper types eating the kind of sad “diet plate” of cottage cheese, fruit, and burger patties that restaurants served from the 1950s to the 1980s. It gave me visions of J. Crew-clad couples lounging by a pool, cottage cheese–filled cantaloupe halves in hand. I know you should never judge a book by its cover, but I just couldn’t bring myself to eat cottage cheese until I discovered the pleasures of whipped cottage cheese 

I was ~ influenced ~ by the folks on TikTok, who were blending it into a luxuriously smooth and creamy dip to go with their crackers and raw vegetables. Gone were the curds; in their place was something that resembled whipped ricotta or mascarpone, an elegant spread you wouldn’t be surprised to find at a nice restaurant. I saw people smearing whipped cottage cheese on toast and topping it with sliced figs and honey or swirling it with fruit compote or jam. 

There were savory spins, too. It was the star of girl dinners everywhere: Vloggers transformed cottage cheese into a creamy ranch dip by blitzing the dairy with garlic powder, onion powder, dill, parsley, and sour cream. Others incorporated fresh garlic, herbs, and lemon zest into their dip, while others kept it simple with a topping of marinated tomatoes or drizzle of mouth-numbing chili crisp. Like other creamy dairy products—think yogurt or ricotta—cottage cheese is a blank slate, making it a versatile match for a wide range of flavors. 

Could this whipped cottage cheese situation be…good? I wasn’t quite sold yet, but I was curious enough to try it myself. My fear of cottage cheese—like most of my other fears—turned out to have been unfounded. And in hindsight, slightly irrational. I discovered that even before blending, cottage cheese was surprisingly good all on its own, straight out of the tub (especially the full-fat variety). A few pulses in the food processor was all it took to turn it into a luscious dip I soon wanted to eat with everything: on toast with sliced bananas for breakfast, blended with fruit and frozen into “ice cream” for dessert, with raw vegetables as a snack. 

My very favorite way to eat whipped cottage cheese is garnished with a shower of chopped fresh herbs and lemon zest. It's a refreshing dip for crackers and vegetables that I frequently turn to as an easy, protein-packed desk lunch. I like it with a combo of fresh parsley, chives, and dill, but you could use just one or two of those herbs or whatever soft herbs you have on hand. When I made a batch of this simple dip for my coworkers in the midst of our Starch Madness photo shoots, they gobbled it up enthusiastically alongside their sandwiches stuffed with Spam and Taylor ham. 

I no longer fear cottage cheese and would happily eat it with the curds. But it’s so easy and delicious whipped that I see no reason to eat it as-is. As the youngsters say these days: This is the way.